1. Field of the Description
The present description relates, in general, to amusement park rides and other entertainment rides such as round rides, and, more particularly, to amusement or theme park round rides configured to position a vehicle at numerous locations through movement of a coupler (or vehicle coupling point) on an end of a support arm through an irregular motion profile. The support arm is attached at an opposite end to a central hub that is rotated about a central or rotation axis at two or more speeds.
2. Relevant Background
Amusement and theme parks are popular worldwide with hundreds of millions of people visiting the parks each year. Park operators continuously seek new designs for rides that attract and continue to entertain park visitors. Many parks include round rides that include vehicles or gondolas mounted on support arms extending outward from a centrally located structure that is rotated by a drive assembly. The passengers or riders sit in the vehicles (or guest/rider compartments) and are rotated by the drive assembly, which spins the hub structure about its central axis. In some of these rides, the passengers may operate an interactive device, such as a joystick in the vehicle, to make the support arm and their attached vehicle gradually move upward or downward within a limited, preset range such as by pivoting the support arm at its connection to the central hub. Some rides also allow the passengers to control the pitch of their vehicle.
Even with these added features, it is difficult to provide a round ride that attracts repeat riders because the ride experience is repetitive and predictable. For example, the support arm typically has a fixed length, and the vehicle is rigidly or pivotally mounted at a fixed location on the support arm. As a result, the radius at which the vehicle rotates about the central hub or rotation assembly does not vary much throughout the ride. This results in a motion profile with a generally fixed or constant radius and a fixed vertical path (e.g., the passenger may be able to use a joystick to move their vehicle up and down in a predefined arc).
Available round rides have a limited and very predictable set of ride dynamics, such as centripetal force applied to the vehicle and vehicle speed, which are unchanging or vary only within a small range. Further, in many of these compact ride systems, a leading or preceding vehicle may be positioned directly in front of the following or trailing vehicles, which obstructs the riders sightlines as the range of relative motion between adjacent vehicles is fairly limited (e.g., the arm may pivot up and down on the hub through a small range of less than 45 degrees or the like).
While predictable in their experience, round rides are attractive to park operators because of their smaller footprint (compared with coaster and similar thrill rides) and lower maintenance and operating costs as well as simple control systems. Hence, there remains a need for new rides with enhanced ride experiences such as rides with more rider interactivity/control and larger ranges of ride dynamics but with fixed or smaller footprints or space requirements.